Mobile systems and methods for capturing and managing information pertaining to assets and inventory

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure describes mobile systems and methods for capturing, auditing, and transferring inventory information in contexts such as large data centers. In some cases, a mobile device is configured to manage inventory information in a data center. The mobile device may include a number of pre-configured workflows for capturing inventory information, receiving new inventory, auditing existing inventory, and/or transferring inventory from one place to another.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser.No. 61/842,883, filed Jul. 3, 2013.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the management of assets andinventories and, in particular, to mobile systems and methods forcapturing, auditing, and transferring inventory information in contextssuch as large data centers.

BACKGROUND

Organizations and businesses of all sizes and missions, buy a diversearray of assets. By way of example, large companies with data centersmay contain computer related assets worth hundreds of millions ofdollars. A critical requirement for the wellbeing of the business is tomaintain an accurate account of the inventory on hand, its dispositionand location. In addition many organizations must comply with industryor government standards with respect to the maintenance of such assetswhich adds significantly to the “need to know” factors surrounding thembut not limited to HIPPA, SOX or PCI compliance. Furthermore, externalauditors undertake “spot audits” to test the validity of the inventorieson hand to ensure the integrity and value of assets claimed by anorganization or business. Yet the physical management and audit of theseinventories, particularly in large corporate data centers, today is oneof the fundamental challenges that has plagued organizations with datacenters throughout history. To this point, capturing asset data has beenan almost entirely manual process that consumes valuable people time andis fraught with potential errors. Going asset by asset, capturing atbest barcode data, hostnames, model types, serial numbers and locationsalone is a massive undertaking. Then trying to feed that informationback into systems and databases supporting the datacenter is equallychallenging. Often there are multiple systems involved that are used bydifferent stakeholder with different information needs.

While recognized as a critical activity, datacenter managers andoperators, in many instances with limited resources and human capitaland knowing the chances of error are high, choose by necessity to avoidsuch tasks unless forced by circumstance to do so. The challenge isexacerbated by organizations being at breaking point in terms ofbudgetary, technology, physical space constraints and a shortage ofstaff. Due to a lack of transparency, accuracy and visibility, everyasset has the potential of being used inefficiently, lost all togetheror even stolen. Today many organizations cannot find assets, tell youthe value of them, their use or be able to account for changes in theirstatus. When audits are attempted, countless hours are spent byemployees trying to achieve them through basic applications,spreadsheets and in many cases, manual pen and paper processes. Whiletechnology has revolutionized almost every area of business life,technology has not advanced paradoxically to efficiently address andprovide control over these inventory management challenges.

There are numerous point based methods and technologies that seek toaddress parts of the problem described, but there has not until now,been a total solution that addresses the automation of asset inventorymanagement and audits thereof, that dramatically reduces the cost, timeand resources required to undertake such tasks. The use of clipboards,pen and paper and spreadsheets is still typical of the tools used alongwith the manual scanning of barcodes asset by asset. And even wheninformation is captured, there are no standard methods or mechanismsthat can be used to integrate the data with other important systems andso doing is extremely difficult.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred and alternative examples of the present invention aredescribed in detail below with reference to the following drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates a mobile device according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example mobile device configured todetect, locate, position, or track assets according to one embodiment.

FIG. 3 depicts an RFID Scanner/Reader used in one embodiment inassociation with a mobile device for capturing asset data from RFID tagsassociated with assets.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a system for capturing and managing datacenter assets inventory information according to one embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating an inventory tagging workflow usedfor the initial enablement of RFID tags and the capture of primary assetinformation according to one embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating an inventory and location auditworkflow process, provided by one embodiment and used to verify that anexpected RFID tag and its associated asset exist within a givenlocation.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a spot or snapshot inventory auditworkflow process, provided by one embodiment and used to verify thatspecifically identified and selected assets and their associated RFIDtags exist within a given location.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating an asset receive workflow process,provided by one embodiment and used when a new asset is installed in adata center.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating a transfer asset workflow, providedby one embodiment and used when an asset is transferred from one assetenclosure in a data center to a different enclosure.

FIGS. 10-39 depict user interface screens provided by exampleembodiments.

FIG. 40 illustrates example ontologies supported by various embodiments.

FIG. 41 illustrates an ontology according to an embodiment of theinvention as it specifically relates to the data center context.

FIG. 42 illustrates example semantic relationships according to oneembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, certain specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments of theinvention. However, one skilled in the art will understand that theinvention may be practiced without these details or with variouscombinations of these details. In other instances, well-known systemsand methods associated with, but not necessarily limited to, assetmanagement and methods for operating the same may not be shown ordescribed in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring descriptions of theembodiments of the invention.

An embodiment of the invention is deployed on a mobile device such as atablet computer and used in conjunction with, but is not limited to awireless, Bluetooth and internet based services, or a browser. Othermobile devices may be employed, including smart phones, laptopcomputers, wearable computers, or the like. There are pluralities ofcomponents for the inventory management and audit of assets, integratingall the critical information pertaining to the asset and delivering thisinformation in the needed form to operators of the system and datastore(s) where the information ultimately resides. Inventory managersand auditors have the ability to spatially navigate assets locations,for example in a building, carrying the tablet computer together withthe associated wireless scanner/reader, capturing RFID tag, assetlocation, attributes and disposition data. These components may includebut are not limited to any particular tablet computer, mobile deviceapplications, asset information repositories and API's; local or remoteinformation synchronization and maintenance of information pertaining toassets and their interdependencies.

FIG. 1 illustrates a mobile device according to one embodiment. Theillustrated mobile device is a tablet computer. Tablet computers canvary in design and capabilities depending on the manufacturer, but theyhave similar intrinsic uses and characteristics.

A conventional tablet computer, referred to herein as a mobile device100, typically includes numerous buttons and switches from a usabilitystandpoint including 103 a button for rotating the screen, 107 the powerswitch, 108 Programmable launch button and 112 a jog dial switch forcursor movement.

Coupled to device 100 are typical computer capabilities. Examplesinclude I/O devices include including 102 internal wireless antennas,105 VGA/USB/R345/RJ11 and 106 PC card/compact flash slots for attachingexternal devices. Furthermore device 100 also provides audiocapabilities including 111 and 109 stereo speakers and 110 stereo/monohead set jack, or the like. The device 100 will at times be referred toin the singular herein, but this is not intended to limit theapplication of the invention to a single computer because, in typicalembodiments, there will be more than one computer or other deviceinvolved

One or more display devices 101 may be configured as a touch ormulti-touch screen display using resistive, capacitive, surface-acousticwave (SAW) capacitive, infrared, strain gauge, optical imaging,dispersive signal technology, acoustic pulse recognition, frustratedtotal internal reflection or magneto-strictive technology, as understoodby one of ordinary skill in the art.

Some mobile devices provide an optional pen with barrel device 113 forpoint, click and write operator functions.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example mobile device configured todetect, locate, position, or track assets according to one embodiment.Shown here is a conventional tablet computer, referred to herein as amobile device 200, includes a processing unit 202, a system memory 206,and a system bus that couples various system components including thesystem memory to the processing unit. The device 200 will at times bereferred to in the singular herein, but this is not intended to limitthe application of the invention to a single computer because, intypical embodiments, there will be more than one computer or otherdevice involved. The processing unit 202 may be any logic processingunit, such as one or more central processing units (“CPUs”), digitalsignal processors (“DSPs”), application-specific integrated circuits(“ASICs”), etc. Unless described otherwise, the construction andoperation of the various blocks shown in FIG. 2 are of conventionaldesign. As a result, such blocks need not be described in further detailherein, as they will be understood by those skilled in the relevant art.

Mobile device 200 comprises computer bus 240 that couples at least oneor more processors 202, one or more interface controllers 204, memory206 having software 208, storage device 210, power source 212, and/orone or more displays controller 220. One or more processors 202 may be ageneral purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventionalprocessor, a digital signal processor (“DSP”), a plurality ofmicroprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSPcore, a controller, a microcontroller, single core processor, amulti-core processor, Application Specific Integrated Circuits(“ASICs”), Field Programmable Gate Array (“FPGAs”) circuits, any othertype of integrated circuit (“IC”), or the like.

One or more display devices 222 may be configured as a liquid crystaldisplay (“LCD”), light emitting diode (“LED”) display, field emissiondisplay (“FED”), organic light emitting diode (“OLED”) display, flexibleOLED display, or the like. In the case of a flexible display device, theone or more electronic display devices 222 may be configured andassembled using organic light emitting diodes (“OLED”), liquid crystaldisplays using flexible substrate technology, flexible transistors,field emission displays (“FED”) using flexible substrate technology, orthe like. One or more display devices 222 may be configured as a touchor multitouch screen display using resistive, capacitive,surface-acoustic wave (“SAW”) capacitive, infrared, strain gauge,optical imaging, dispersive signal technology, acoustic pulserecognition, frustrated total internal reflection or magneto-strictivetechnology, as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art.

Coupled to computer bus 240 are one or more input/output (“I/O”)controller(s) 216, I/O devices 218, Global Navigation Satellite Systems(“GNSS”) device 214, one or more network adapters 228, and/or one ormore antennas 230. Examples of I/O devices include a speaker,microphone, keyboard, keypad, touchpad, display, touchscreen, wirelessgesture device, a digital camera, a digital video recorder, a vibrationdevice, or the like.

Mobile device 200 may have one or more motion, proximity, light,optical, chemical, environmental, moisture, acoustic, heat, temperature,radio frequency identification (“RFID”), biometric, face recognition,image, photo, or voice recognition sensors 226 and touch detectors 224for detecting any touch inputs, including multi-touch inputs, for one ormore display devices 222. Sensors 226 may also be an accelerometer, ane-compass, gyroscope, a 3D gyroscope, or the like. One or more interfacecontrollers 204 may communicate with touch detectors 224 and I/Ocontroller 216 for determining operator inputs to mobile device 200.Coupled to one or more display devices 222 may be pressure sensors 223for detecting presses on one or more display devices 222.

Still referring to mobile device 200, storage device 210 may be any diskbased or solid state memory device for storing data. Power source 212may be a plug-in, battery, fuel cells, solar panels for receiving andstoring solar energy, or a device for receiving and storing wirelesspower as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,027,311 herein incorporated byreference as if fully set forth.

One or more network adapters 228 may be configured as a FrequencyDivision Multiple Access (“FDMA”), single carrier FDMA (“SC-FDMA”), TimeDivision Multiple Access (“TDMA”), Code Division Multiple Access(“CDMA”), Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (“OFDM”),Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (“OFDMA”), Global Systemfor Mobile (“GSM”) communications, Interim Standard 95 (“IS-95”),IS-856, Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (“EDGE”), General PacketRadio Service (“GPRS”), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System(“UMTS”), cdma2000, wideband CDMA (“W-CDMA”), High-Speed Downlink PacketAccess (“HSDPA”), High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (“HSUPA”), High-SpeedPacket Access (“HSPA”), Evolved HSPA (“HSPA+”), long term evolution(“LTE”), LTE Advanced (“LTE-A”), 802.11x, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Ultra-WideBand(“UWB”), 802.16x, 802.15, Wi-Max, mobile Wi-Max, Bluetooth, radiofrequency identification, Infrared Data Association (“IrDA”), or anyother wireless or wired transceiver for modulating and demodulatingsignals via one or more antennas 230.

Mobile device 200 may include ultrasound transducers anddetectors/sensors 221 that emits or transmits one or more ultrasoundsignals and detects ultrasound signal reflections of emitted ortransmitted ultrasound signals.

Ultrasound transducers and detectors 221 may also detect any ultrasoundsignals emitted or transmitted by other ultrasound transducers, such asin another mobile device. Ultrasound transducers and detectors 221 maycomprise a single transducer and detector or a plurality of transducersand detectors, such as in an array. Ultrasound transducers and detectors221 may be an add-on, attachment, accessory, or peripheral coupled tomobile device 200 using a wired or wireless communication link, such asuniversal serial bus (“USB”), Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi.

FIG. 3 depicts an RFID Scanner/Reader used in one embodiment inassociation with a mobile device for capturing asset data from RFID tagsassociated with assets. The described mobile device may detect RFID tagsand in doing so locate, position, or track assets.

Currently existing technology allows devices to be identified by meansof RFID tags. RFID technology uses electromagnetic energy (such as radiosignals) a medium through which information is sent. Referring to FIG.3, an RFID system 300 is illustrated. The RFID system 300 includes anRFID tag 308 for transmitting and/or receiving radio frequency signalsand a scanner/reader 302 for transmitting and/or receiving radiofrequency signals from the RFID tag 308 and transmitting radio frequencysignals to the RFID tag 308. The system 300 also includes a tabletcomputer 301 which is coupled to the scanner/reader 302 by a Bluetoothwireless communications link 304. Through the communications link 304,the scanner/reader 302 can receive commands and data from the computer301 and, thereafter, send data to the remote RFID tag 308. As was notedabove, the scanner/reader 302 can also receive data from the remote RFIDtag 308 and pass the data back to the computer 301.

RFID technology overcomes many limitations of other automaticidentification approaches, such as those using bar codes and infraredtechnology, which use light to communicate. Since an RFID tag 308 doesnot require a visual scanner, or other vision system, to detect itspresence, it may be hidden or invisible to the eye and may also be usedin harsh or dirty environments. A scanner/reader 302 reads informationtransmitted by the RFID tag 308 via radio frequency wirelessconnectivity 310 even if the tag 308 is completely hidden from view.

An RFID tag 308 typically includes a receiver and some type oftransmitter, an antenna, and memory. There are two categories of RFIDtags—active and passive—that represent two different types of RFcommunication. Tags without batteries are known as passive tags becausethey derive their power from the RF energy transmitted from a reader.Passive RFID tags tend to be smaller and exhibit short rangetransmission characteristics (under six feet), whereas battery-powered,active tags, tend to be larger and exhibit long range transmissioncharacteristics (up to and over one hundred feet).

Active tags send data back to the reader with radio signals generatedfrom a battery within the tag. Passive tags, on the other hand, usemodulated backscatter (“MBS”) to transmit reflected energy, dictated bythe data stream from the tag, back to the reader. Passive tags using MBSare better suited for gate or lane applications where it is undesirableto wake up (see) any tags beyond a certain distance and where there arefew obstructions in the energy path.

With the aid of RFID technology, assets which are brought within rangeof a scanner/reader, may be detected. Furthermore, assets movements,decommissions, changes in location, such as those in data centers, canbe identified and their progress tracked using this technology.

However, there is currently no method or system which provides amechanism by which automated inventory management and inventory auditsof multiplicities of assets can be achieved rapidly and accurately. Inaddition, to accomplish this purpose and to be of value, such a systemwould not only have to identify the asset, but be able to determine itslocation, disposition, attributes, function, ownership and associatedcosts and thereafter, be available to appropriate stakeholder for whomthis information is mission critical. Additionally, the RFID system 300,would best be strategically capable of undertaking rapid subsequentinventory audits.

Therefore, what is needed is a system for automating the asset inventorymanagement and the audit process that replaces the current highly laborintensive, costly alternative, that due to the complexity of the processand manual human intervention, is fraught with error. In addition, thesystem for automating the asset inventory management and audit processneeds the capability to provide captured asset information to acentralized database in a form that is valuable and consumable by keystakeholder(s).

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a system for capturing and managing datacenter assets inventory information according to one embodiment. Theillustrated system is configured for capturing and managing asset dataon the mobile device. The system is accessed through a powerful touchscreen graphical user interface (“GUI”) dashboard.

The system includes a mobile device, tablet computer 409, that includesa tool set of components that automates the download of existing assetdata (if any is available) from a central database, data capture byreading and interrogation of asset based RFID tags, and informationpertaining to that asset, the verification and validation of capturedasset data and bi-directional data transfer and integration with acentral database.

The illustrated system includes a central database 405 that resides on aremote server 406 and may contain asset information including but notlimited to detailed asset attribute data 401, manufacturer and modeldata 402, financial and contractual data 403 and location data 404.

The system provides bi-directional wireless data management, transfer,synchronization used initially to download any existing, in-house assetdata via wireless communications 406 through a wireless network 407 tothe tablet computer 409 and normalized based on asset serial number orhostname.

Specific information concerning asset detailed data 401 and assetmanufacturers' data 402, if available, are downloaded to the tabletcomputer to make required asset information available to the operator.These two downloads reduce the amount of information needing to bemanually entered and allows the operator to immediately verify andvalidate existing customer data with that physically present.

The tablet computer 409 is configured to provide its operator acomprehensive tool set for carrying out inventory audits and managementfunctions through an intuitive pre-built touch screen graphical userinterface 414.

The table computer 409 further includes a Bluetooth device managementand synchronization component 410, which provides integration andconnectivity 415 with Bluetooth scanners/readers 416. The Bluetoothmanagement and synchronization component operates in real-time,providing the operator to visually see the status and strength of theconnection as well as the ability to turn the connection on and off.

The table computer 409 further includes a tool set for automated datacapture of RFID and asset information component 411. The operator usesthe Bluetooth scanner/reader 416 connected in real-time with the tabletcomputer based system, capturing data including RFID tag data 422, assetlocation 418, rack number, and position within the rack 419, make,model, physical size 420. The system also provides for the operation ofwireless barcode scanner/readers 417 using Bluetooth connectivity inreal-time with the tablet computer based system.

The system enables the capture, association and integration of barcodedata 421 with all other captured data. All captured data is managed in arelational database resident on the mobile tablet computer.

The tablet computer 409 also includes a pre-built workflows componentthat guides the operator through numerous inventory management and auditprocesses 412. The tablet computer 409 further includes a relationaldatabase 411 that, collates, organizes and manages all asset and RFIDtag information from any/all sources and assembles it into a unifiedintelligent infrastructure on the tablet computer. The tablet computer409 also includes a wireless data synchronization component 413 thatprovides the system on a tablet computer bi-directional real-timeintegration with a central database 405 across a wireless network 407.

An integration component 423, resident on the tablet computer 409 andused subsequently to upload all captured asset data from the tabletcomputer that has been accurately verified/updated previously downloadedin-house asset data from the central database, if any was madeavailable. This upload is sent to a staging database 424 for exceptionhandling and further validation prior to committing asset data to acentral database 405.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating an inventory tagging workflow usedfor the initial enablement of RFID tags and the capture of primary assetinformation according to one embodiment. The tagging workflow is used ina new data center setting where assets are being tagged for the firsttime. FIGS. 12-20 depict user interface screens displayed by the mobiledevice in conjunction with this workflow.

In this “first pass” scenario, and within a room within the location,the operator moves from asset enclosure to asset enclosure or from rackto rack using the RFID and scanner/reader to capture asset enclosure orrack data and asset serial numbers and their unique RFID tag informationand matches where available previously downloaded information pertainingto that rack enclosure, rack and asset.

Before tagging commences, 501 the operator downloads to the laptopcomputer hosting the application any material information (if any) aboutassets in the location to be tagged. In that assets are usually mountedin racks or asset enclosures, these are also tagged to associate theasset with a rack or asset enclosure. Operator scans the rack tag 502and enters, changes or confirms rack attributes 504. This information isautomatically stored in the application.

Then each asset within the rack or asset enclosure is scanned andinventoried starting with the lower asset and proceeding up the rack tosubsequent assets 505. All asset attributes are captured 506 by theapplication together with the scanned RFID tag associated with theasset.

Certain asset types can exist within a larger asset, chassis orcompartment. The system allows for the capture of such “child” assetsand their association with the parent their parent if applicable 507,508 and 509. The process of inventorying assets continues 510 until allassets in a rack have been audited.

Once a rack has been completely inventoried, the system displays avisual list of the rack containing all the assets associated in theircorrect location/position within the rack for review by the operator503. Any errors or resubmissions can be made by operator by makingcomparison between the system view of the information captured and theactual physical view of rack and assets.

On completing a rack and its associated assets, the operator moves on tothe next rack needing to be inventoried and the workflow continues fromthe beginning. Where asset information is absent or incorrect, operatorcan make corrections on the screen. Once the data center audit has beencompleted, errors and discrepancies that need further attention areidentified. To factually address errors and omissions, the rack andasset data captured in the system is uploaded to a staging databasewhere these exceptions are handled.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating an inventory and location auditworkflow process, provided by one embodiment and used to verify that anexpected RFID tag and its associated asset exist within a givenlocation. The illustrated audit workflow is used for subsequentinventory audits, after the initial tagging workflow process has beenexecuted. FIGS. 24-29 depict user interface screens displayed by themobile device in conjunction with this workflow.

In preparation for an inventory audit, all the data about assets, racks,model and tag information for a room within a particular location isdownloaded from the central database to the tablet computer 601.

Going rack by rack and row by row the operator uses the system,connected in real-time to the Bluetooth RFID scanner/reader, incontinuous mode, identifying assets, verifying that they are present andin their correct locations 602. The system draws a comparison betweenwhat was expected versus that found in terms of assets RFID tagsattributes and their disposition 603.

Exceptions can occur such as an asset is missing, an asset has beenrelocated, a new asset has been found and has not been tagged. If anunexpected asset tag is identified the operator is notified by thesystem allowing the operator to capture the data concerning the asset,its attributes, disposition and location using the system 604, 605.

When an asset is deemed missing 606 the system triggers and alert forthe operator 607, 608 who can then confirm and flags such instancesvisually 609. The system provides exact asset details and location tosimplify this process. Should the asset be subsequently found present inits correct location, the system provides for updating the record frommissing to found 610. The asset tag is re-scanned to ensure it isworking correctly and if not then the tag is replaced.

In the circumstance where an asset is indeed missing 612, the systemflags this instance for later exception handling and updates the rackand asset register accordingly. Using the system, the operator continuesthe missing assets process until all have been confirmed found ormissing 611.

Once the inventory audit of a room within a location has been completethe system updates all the asset and rack records with the latest auditinformation and time stamps them as “when last seen” 607. The results ofthe inventory audit are then uploaded by the tablet into a stagingdatabase providing details by rack or asset enclosure and asset 613 fromwhich pre-built status and exception reports are run 614 for furtherreview and/or escalation by the operator. The last seen date isautomatically associated with each asset.

Using the system, more than 1500 assets can be audited in ten minutes.The system provides accuracy and transparency to both the inventoryaudit process and the disposition and location of critical assets and doso in a fraction of the time and resources traditionally used toundertake this exercise.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a spot or snapshot inventory auditworkflow process, provided by one embodiment and used to verify thatspecifically identified and selected assets and their associated RFIDtags exist within a given location. This audit workflow is used tocompare data downloaded from the centralized database with that which isfound at a specific location. FIGS. 24-29 depict user interface screensdisplayed by the mobile device in conjunction with this workflow.

In preparation for a spot audit, all the data about assets, racks,vendor and tag information for a particular location is downloaded fromthe central database to the system on the tablet computer 701. Capturinglocal information is done by the operator using the system, connected inreal-time to the Bluetooth RFID scanner/reader, in continuous mode,scanning the assets within the rack or enclosure 702.

Once complete the scanner is switched off and the system builds a listof the assets actually found as compared to those expected to be foundas currently stored in the central database 703. As described furtherbelow, the workflow accounts for all possible exception scenarios fromthis point based on whether assets are correctly found, assets aremissing or extra assets have been found 704.

When an asset is missing the system requires the operator to visuallyverify whether the asset is there (found) or is not found in the rack705. The system displays the required data for the operator to make sucha determination including the assets RFID Tag data, the asset'shostname, manufacturer model, the rack name of the enclosure in whichthe asset is being audited and the position of assets within the rack.If found, the tag is checked to see if it's operating correctly and theasset list is updated to confirm the assets presence 706. Should theasset not be found the system updates the asset status to missing andreported as such to the central database 707.

When an extra asset is found 704, the system requires the operator tovisually verify that the asset is present or not in the rack 708. Thesystem displays the required data for the operator to make such adetermination including the assets RFID Tag data, the asset's hostname,manufacturer model, the rack name of the enclosure in which the asset isbeing audited and the position of assets within the rack.

Once this part of workflow process 702 to 710 has been complete and allassets have been accounted for based in their RFID Tags 711, the systemdisplays for the operator the summation of the assets inventoried,updates their status as verified and the exact time and date when theywere last seen 712.

The operator is then requested by the system to check for the existenceof extra assets in the rack or enclosure which may not have an RFID tagassociated with them and therefore have not been captured within theworkflow to this point 713. If untagged assets are verified as present,the operator updates the system identifying the rack or enclosurecontains untagged assets 714. Once stage 713 and 714 have beencompleted, the system determines if additional racks or enclosuresrequire spot audits 715. If yes, the system reloads and the operatorcontinues the workflow process on the next rack commencing at stage 702and continues.

Once all racks and enclosures required under the spot audit have beencomplete, the system produces a report of tasks needing to be undertakenwithin other workflow process of the system 716. The report addressesthe exceptions found in the current workflow where assets were foundmissing and extra assets were found and highlights the rack or enclosurewhere these exceptions occurred.

The system uploads the results of the spot audit to a staging databasefor all correctly verified and validated asset data including, date andtime of tag last seen, asset state data, asset rack location and anyassets that were found in a rack or enclosure but where their position717. The staging database is used for final review before the resultsfrom the spot audit are loaded back into the central database.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating an asset receive workflow process,provided by one embodiment and used when a new asset is installed in adata center. FIGS. 30-34 depict user interface screens displayed by themobile device in conjunction with this workflow.

Information pertaining to assets, locations, rooms, enclosures andmanufacturers (vendors) is initially downloaded to the tablet computerto start the asset receive process and to automate aspects of data entryand capture 801. Now on the tablet computer, a database lookup of rackdata where the asset is to be house is made and the correct rack isselected 802.

If an RFID tag is not already attached to the asset by the manufacturer,one is now attached to the asset by the operator. Data pertaining to theasset is then entered into the system. If the manufacturer, make andmodel of the asset is previously known to the system, this informationis auto-populated into the data entry screen 803.

Using the wirelessly connected Bluetooth barcode scanner, the operatorscans the asset barcode for serial number information. Using thewirelessly connected RFID scanner, the assets RFID tag information iscaptured in the system 804. The tag information is associated with assetdata including the physical attributes of the asset, serial number,hostname, make and manufacturer, enclosure (rack) and rack position. Thesystem also provides for those asset types that have parent to childrelationships, namely when an asset (the child) becomes a component partof a larger asset (the parent). If the asset model or manufacturer isnew to the system 805, a screen is provided on the tablet computer toenter new manufacturer and model information 806.

Once all the asset data, its attributes and physical location iscaptured the receive workflow offers the opportunity to receive furtherassets into the system 807 and if more assets need to be received theworkflow process restarts at 802. Once all assets have been received,the system provides a summary review of all assets that have beenentered during the current workflow instance 808. This allows theoperator to verify and confirm the data captured during this receiveworkflow instance.

The systems then allows the operator to wirelessly upload all the assetdata captured during the receive workflow instance directly to thecentral database. The data transfer and integration into the centraldatabase is a fully automated process.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating a transfer asset workflow, providedby one embodiment and used when an asset is transferred from one assetenclosure in a data center to a different enclosure. The illustratedworkflow is used to transfer assets, whether within or not the sameroom, data center or location according to an embodiment of theinvention. FIGS. 35-39 depict user interface screens displayed by themobile device in conjunction with this workflow.

Information pertaining to assets, locations, rooms, enclosures andmanufacturers (vendors) is initially downloaded to the tablet computerto start the asset transfer process and to automate aspects of dataentry and capture 901. Now on the tablet computer, a database lookup ofrack data where the asset is currently located is made 902.

The system provides the operator optional ways to identify the assetneeding to be transferred. These include but are not limited to the useof a wirelessly connected Bluetooth barcode scanner, that identifies theasset by serial number or using the wirelessly connected RFID scannerthat identifies the assets by RFID tag number 903.

Using any of the methods described the system auto-populates anddisplays information about the asset to be transferred for verificationand validation purposes. These attributes include the asset's hostname,current enclosure (rack) location and position within the rack, serialnumber, RFID tag identification, the date of first install, the assetmanufacturer (vendor) and whether the asset has a parent to childassociation.

At this point the asset is physically removed from its current location904. The transfer workflow next requires the operator to move to the newenclosure (rack) where the asset will now be located. This may be in adifferent position within the same rack, a different rack within thesame room, a different room within the datacenter or another data centercompletely.

The RFID tag associated with the new enclosure or rack is scanned usingthe wireless Bluetooth RFID scanner attached to the tablet computer.From that data captured, the system looks up the rack details anddisplays them for verification and validation by the operator. Theoperator enters the position in the new rack when the asset is to belocated 905. The system then automatically updates the date the assetwas last seen to the current date and time, that the new asset state isverified, and summarizes the new attributes of the asset inventoried906.

Once all the asset data, its attributes and physical location iscaptured the transfer workflow offers the opportunity to transferfurther assets 907 and if more assets need to be transferred theworkflow process restarts at 902. The systems then allows the operatorto wirelessly upload all the asset data captured during the transferworkflow instance directly to the central database. Data uploadedincludes asset and RFID tag data, tag (asset) last seen, asset statedata and rack data of where the asset was moved from and to 908. Thedata transfer and integration into the central database is a fullyautomated process as is the updating of asset attributes anddisposition;

Stakeholders from across an organization including asset owners,facility managers, administrators and finance can then access thecritical information captured, verified and validated by the system thatthey need from the central database eliminating the cost and expense ofhaving multiple sources and the errors that inevitably result.

A comprehensive asset and event management Application Program Interface(API) preferably includes a set of API's to support integration ofinformation from disparate sources pertaining to and containing anyrelevant to assets. These API's provide data that the system aggregatesand consumes as needed within the inventory management process.

The present invention has the ability to analyze and make decisionsbased on the integration of facts concerning every aspect of an assetand use of tools provided to support and validate such decisions.

An embodiment of the system provides capabilities for assessing andplanning these types of scenarios and provides the mechanisms toproperly account for them.

The system further provides alert capability that lets operators knowwhen certain important or exceptional events take place.

Ontology and Semantic Relationships

FIG. 40 illustrates example ontologies supported by various embodiments.Depending on the particular industry or context, the system is capableof defining arbitrarily nestable and classifiable entities, whichrepresent purely semantic relationships. By modeling different contextsin this manner, the described techniques can represent information in anindustry-specific manner. There are three primary entity types:

1. Groups: Logical groupings of other groups/enclosures i.e. Division,Company, etc such as “Organization” e.g. a company, a farm, a freightliner or a casino

2. Enclosures: A Group with ‘extent’, and other attributes. A systemcapable of defining arbitrarily nestable and classifiable Enclosures,which include both a semantic label, and an extent, a position, and aphysical orientation in space relative to its parent or some globalcoordinate system. Represent organizational units that have a physicalpresence of some kind. These can be classified arbitrarily, “ServerRoom”, “Datacenter”, “Container”. They can be associated with users,projects or contracts. They can have other Enclosures or Assets aschildren. By way of example Enclosures:

-   -   Can be used to model a Datacenter, with an Enclosure root node        labeled as “Building”, and given a extent modeling the building        volume, and its position in latitude and longitude. This has        sub-enclosures such as “Floor” and “Room”, each with its own        size, and position relative to the parent using the Perimeter        Mapping Module.    -   Can be used to model any enclosures within any organization. In        the case of a farm, enclosure examples include Field with        sub-enclosure Barn with sub-enclosure Stall using the Perimeter        Mapping Module.    -   Can then be associated with any applicable Group that own(s)        them.

3. Assets: Physical items with physical presence, physical traits andmeasurable attributes (Weight, Temperature, Size, Age, Value) and can beclassified arbitrarily, such as “Computer Server”, “Horse”, “Painting”.All Assets can contain sub-asset classes.

FIG. 41 illustrates an ontology according to an embodiment of theinvention as it specifically relates to the data center context. In thisembodiment, the system is capable of defining arbitrarily nestable andclassifiable entities such as locations, buildings, floors and machinerooms.

Furthermore, for each area of applicability, Application SpecificEntities can be added with their own attributes, which are thenassociated with an enclosure that contains them. For example, computerequipment as Asset entities can be associated with the Enclosuremodeling a datacenter room Enclosure on a particular floor Enclosure.

FIG. 42 illustrates example semantic relationships according to oneembodiment. The illustrated embodiment allows other objects, groups andtheir separate trees/graphs to be further added to model other specialpurpose objects, semantic groupings and their interrelationships toexisting objects to model and manage the inter-relationships betweenGroups.

These may be for example in a datacenter scenario: a “Contract” objectthat can be used to denote the support relationship between a separateOrganization providing maintenance services; Groups andAssets/Enclosures encapsulating a cross-department or multi-companyproject; and a “Source” that is the originating organization of theasset facilitating the capture of specific information pertaining to anAsset.

All of the above-cited references, U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.61/842,883, entitled “ASSET MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND DEVICES,”and filed Jul. 3, 2013, are incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporatedreference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that termprovided herein, the definition of that term provided herein governs andthe definition of that term in the reference does not apply.

While example embodiments of the invention have been illustrated anddescribed, as noted above, many changes can be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope ofthe invention is not limited by the disclosure of any particularembodiment. Instead, the invention should be determined entirely byreference to the claims that follow.

1. A system and method for the mobile capturing and auditing assets,their information, location and support entities according to anindustry specific manner, the system comprising: a relational database;and a mobile device including a user interface device comprising a touchscreen user input device and a display device, the mobile device furtherincluding a processor in data communication with the database and theuser interface device, the processor configured to: integrate locationbased information with physical asset component data and assetdisposition data and rack data; and permitting inventory management,displaying and analysis of asset information on a single user interface.receive relationship and dependency information between assetenclosures, rooms, racks, assets, and support entities for anorganization from the user interface device; receive attributes withassociated measurements for the asset enclosures, rooms, racks, assets,and support entities for the organization from the user interfacedevice, wherein the attributes with associated measurements areformatted according the specific industry of the organization; and storethe relationship and dependency information and the attributes withassociated measurements into the relational database.
 2. The system ofclaim 1, further comprising: a plurality of data transmission devices,each of the plurality of data transmission devices configured to beassociated with one of the asset enclosures, rooms, racks, assets, andsupport entities for the organization, wherein the plurality of datatransmission devices comprises data of the associated one of the assetenclosures, rooms, racks, assets, and support entities; and a pluralityof data collection devices in signal communication with the processorand the plurality of data transmission devices, the plurality of datacollection devices configured to retrieve the data from the plurality ofdata transmission devices, wherein the data transmission devices anddata collection devices comprise at least one of radio frequencyidentification (RFID) tags, readers or scanners, wherein the processorenters the data received from the data collection devices into therelational database, wherein the processor is further configured toexecute a plurality of data Application Program Interfaces (APIs), theexecuted APIs integrate data received from the data collection devicesinto a comprehensive summary view of the asset enclosures, rooms, racks,assets, and support entities based on the relational database.
 3. Thesystem of claim 2, wherein the mobile device communicates with theplurality of data transmission devices via either passive or activeRadio Frequency Identification (RFID), to capture and monitor assetinformation.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the mobile device isfurther configured to allow an operator to uniquely identify a locationof an asset and physical orientation based on data received using aradio frequency identification system.
 5. The system of claim 1, whereinthe mobile device wirelessly connected to either a private or publicnetwork, to provide real-time, bi-directional transfer of asset databetween the mobile device and a central asset management database. 6.The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is further configuredto allow an operator to: modify records of the asset enclosures, rooms,racks, assets, and support entities; display values of the attributes;and edit the values of the attributes within the relational database. 7.The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device provides a series ofpre-built, pre-configured workflows designed to optimize inventory andaudit processes associated with assets and enclosures within rooms andtheir inter-relationships, wherein the workflows are provided by themobile device via the user interface.
 8. The system of claim 7, whereinthe series of workflows includes an asset tagging workflow,pre-configured for a first pass tagging and inventory audit of assetsand enclosures within rooms and their inter-relationships.
 9. The systemof claim 7, wherein the series of workflows includes an inventorylocation tagging workflow pre-configured for subsequent inventory auditsand management of assets and enclosures within rooms and theirinter-relationships.
 10. The system of claim 7, wherein the series ofworkflows includes an inventory snapshot audit workflow pre-configuredfor subsequent inventory audits and management of specific assets andenclosures within rooms and their inter-relationships.
 11. The system ofclaim 7, wherein the series of workflows includes a receive workflowpre-configured for receipt of assets into a location and the subsequentmanagement of said assets to their ultimate rack and room location. 12.The system of claim 7, wherein the series of workflows includes atransfer workflow pre-configured for transfer of assets from onelocation to another and the subsequent management of said assets intheir ultimate rack and room location.
 13. The system of claim 7,wherein the series of workflows includes: a tagging workflow for aninitial inventory of assets; an inventory location tagging workflow forsubsequent inventory audits of the assets; a snapshot audit workflow forsubsequent inventory audits of a specific location at which a subset ofthe assets are present; a receive workflow for receipt of assets into alocation; and a transfer workflow for transferring assets from onelocation to another.
 14. The system of claim 13 wherein the snapshotaudit workflow is configured to: wirelessly receive radio frequencyidentifiers associated with assets in a rack; compare the receivedidentifiers to asset information corresponding to the rack received fromthe relational database; when the asset information includes identifiersthat do not match the received identifiers, cause the operator of themobile device to visually verify that assets are missing from the rack;and when the received identifiers include identifiers are not present inthe asset information, cause the operator of the mobile device tovisually verify that extra assets are present in the rack.
 15. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is further configured toallow an operator to uniquely identify asset identifiers to associate,capture, monitor and timestamp, data with other data pertaining to theasset within the system.
 16. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobiledevice is further configured to synchronize with the relational databaseinformation captured via Bluetooth RFID scanners for each asset, suchthat changes to the status or location of an asset is captured by thesystem and visible to an operator through the user interface.
 17. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is further configured tointegrate and manage wireless Bluetooth RFID scanners/readers forsynchronizing information for each asset tag, being captured by thesystem and visible to an operator through the user interface.
 18. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is further configured toprovide pre-audit status of about at least one of the assets, rack androom and their inter-relationships.
 19. The system of claim 1, whereinthe user interface allows an operator to perform operations includingbrowse, find, create, update and delete information associated with theasset enclosures, rooms, racks, assets, and support entities, and therelationship information.